By D, KNA
Kenya’s Solicitor General (SG), Shadrack Mose, has urged Nyamira residents to take advantage of the God given favorable weather, to plant as many trees, as possible to achieve Kenya’s target of 15 billion trees by 2032.
The SG made this appeal, Friday, while presiding over commemoration of Mazingira Day at Nyasumi DEB Primary School, his former primary school, where pupils, students and members of the public participated in planting over 2000 trees.
He stated that Nyamira County has relatively high rainfall that is evenly distributed throughout the year unlike other parts of the County such Eastern and Northern regions, which receive very little rain or no rain for a prolonged period of time.
“The appealing ambience, evergreen grass, consistent fresh water springs and cool fresh air that we freely enjoy here in Nyamira is not so in other parts of our country, where they literally scuffle to secure seasonal water pans for their livestock, farming and domestic water needs.” The Solicitor General observed.
“Our President’s initiative of ‘Jaza Miti’ on Mazingira Day on 10th of October every year gives all of us an opportunity to remind ourselves of our deep connection with nature through the air we breathe, water we drink, the soil that feeds us and the forest that shelters our wildlife and communities. Commemoration of this day symbolizes our commitment to achieving the sustainable development goals and environmental stewardship giving us an opportunity to celebrate the progress we have made and reflect on challenges that remain in combating deforestation, pollution and the impacts of climate change,” he emphasized.
Solicitor Shadrack noted that this initiative gives each Kenyan an opportunity under Article 42 of Kenya’s Constitution 2010 rights to a clean and healthy environment, not just during our generation, but even for the future generations and the unborn ones.
“The success of jaza miti initiative depends not only on the government alone, but on the active participation of every Kenyan. Conservation begins in our homes, schools, farms and neighbourhoods, where communities are true custodians of our environment. When citizens take ownership of preserving the environment, the impact is transformative, we should, therefore, embrace tree planting, as a culture and jealously protect it,” noted Solicitor.
“A single act multiplied by millions of hands can change the destiny of our nation. As we plant these trees, let us do it with the purpose and conviction that we are shaping the destiny of our nation,” Mr. Mose appealed.
Nyamira County Conservator, Joseph King’ori, assured residents that Nyamira County has more than enough tree and fruit seedlings in established tree nurseries and they should not shy away from inquiring, whenever they want to plant trees or fruits.
“Avoid planting eucalyptus trees along river lines, because they are drying our rivers and water springs at a very high speed. Let us all embrace our indigenous trees, because they have multiple uses unlike the exotic ones, which are only for commercial purposes at the expense of our environment,” The Conservator advised.
Nyamira County Commissioner, Erastus Mbui, reminded residents that environmental conservation is paramount in any thriving society and challenged youths to take lead in tree and fruit seedling propagation, as a business opportunity not just for the local market, but to fill the gap of the huge demand in other parts of the country.
Kenya commemorated this year’s Mazingira Day under the theme ‘Citizen-Centric Tree Growing and Environmental Stewardship’ to rally all Kenyans to take active responsibility for their environment, by planting trees, cleaning up schools and communities, to promote sustainable practices. Top leaders of the country led the Day by planting tree and fruit seedlings in their former primary schools countrywide, geared towards achieving 15 billion trees by 2032.